As fossil fuels become more scarce, the energy industry has developed more sophisticated techniques for extracting fuels that were previously too difficult or expensive to extract. One such technique is to inject steam into an oil-bearing formation to free up and reduce the viscosity of the oil. Several techniques for steam injection presently exist, and are often referred to collectively as “Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery,” or “Thermal EOR.” Representative steam injection techniques include cyclic, steamflood, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), and other strategies using vertical and/or horizontal injection wells, or a combination of such wells, along with continuous, variable-rate, and/or intermittent steam injection in each well.
One representative system for generating steam for steam injection is a fuel-fired boiler, having a once-through configuration or a recirculating configuration. Other steam generating systems include heat recovery steam generators, operating in a continuous mode. Thermal EOR operations often produce steam 24 hours per day, over a period ranging from many days to many years, which consumes a significant amount of fuel. Accordingly, another representative steam generator is a solar steam generator, which can augment or replace fuel-fired boilers. Solar steam generators can reduce fuel use, reduce operations costs, reduce air emissions, and/or increase oil production in thermal recovery projects. Solar steam generators, due to the necessarily large land area required for solar collectors, may be located at some distance from the point of use of the steam; as a result long interconnecting lines may be required. Solar steam generators necessarily deliver steam at varying flow rates as incoming sunshine varies. A challenge with such systems is that it can be difficult to maintain proper steam conditions in steam distribution lines in light of the varying output provided by the solar steam generator. Accordingly, there remains a need in the industry for systems and methods that reliably maintain steam conditions despite such variations.